Page 22 of Cage

“Who the fuck are they? I want names. Right fucking now.”

Ember turns her gaze to me, her eyes wide. “What? Why? It doesn’t matter, Cage. It was when I was in boarding school. I just, I don’t want anyone to hurt Spike.”

Spike. That’s fucking cute. It’s also cute that her toy is a dragon.

“I want names,” I repeat, scowling as I pull out my phone. “Who are they?”

I don’t give a fuck who they were or where it happened; what those girls did is unforgivable. It doesn’t matter that they’re women. Some men have morals when it comes to hurting women, but when it comes to someone hurting what’s mine, I have no morals whatsoever.

Fuck. Did I seriously just think of her as mine? What the hell is wrong with me?

“I’m not giving you names.”

“Why not?” I put my hands on my hips and glare at her.

She mirrors me, and it’s adorable that she thinks she looks fierce. “Would you give me the names of every person who ever wronged you if I asked?”

“I can give you a list, but they’re all already dead, so it wouldn’t really be useful for you.”

Her mouth falls open, and she stares at me like she’s not sure if she should run away or report me to the cops. Good luck with either. I’d catch her in two strides, and the cops wouldn’t do a goddamn thing about it.

“Calm down, firefly. I’m not going to hurt them. I just want to make them suffer a little. Maybe have their hairdresser accidentally melt off their hair or something. A waxing mishap. A fungal infection on their toenails. Nothing drastic.”

She blinks. Once, twice, a third time. Then she shakes her head.

“You are truly fucking crazy, you know that?”

I smile. “It appears that way, but I’m actually not. I’ve been through rigorous testing.”

“Cage,” she whispers, curling in on herself. “Please.”

Furrowing my eyebrows, I really look at her. Her bottom lip trembles.

Shit. I’m scaring her.

“Ember, I was kidding,” I go to her and sit on the bed again, putting myself at eye level. “Firefly, breathe. Fuck. I was trying to joke around with you.”

Mostly. I do like the idea of those women’s hair melting off. It wouldn’t cause permanent damage, unlike what they did to Ember, but it would definitely upset them.

“Really?” she asks.

Grabbing her wrists, I pull her down to sit beside me, then lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees.

“I’m not the best at reading social situations or people’s emotions. I try, but I don’t always catch on right away. I didn’t mean to upset or scare you, though.”

“You also have no boundaries,” she murmurs.

I chuckle. “As you’ve mentioned.”

When she doesn’t say anything, I stand and point toward her buried dragon. “You never have to hide that stuff from me or anyone else here. In fact, I’ll be upset if you do. Okay?”

Just as I reach the doorway, she sighs. “Thank you. For everything. I’m sorry I haven’t been easy either. I’ll try to be less difficult.”

I turn and face her, warmth spreading in my chest. “I won’t be happy if you do that, too.”

“Do what?” She turns her wide, chocolate eyes up toward me.

“Try to be less difficult. Just be yourself, Ember. That’s the version of you I want to see.”

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